I have been away from Medellin since November, due to return in January. While I miss my wife and child, I’m not sure if I miss this time of the year in Colombia, which is sheer mayhem!

Fireworks over Medellin. Photo by Daniel Echeverri

It starts November 30th, when the skies over the entire Aburra valley erupts into a scene from Bagdad circa 1991. Fireworks explode continuously wherever you look, and thousands of hot air balloons zip across a thousand feet up. Christmas means pyrotechnics in Colombia, even if prohibited, and holiday celebrations go from November 30th till the first week of January. During this time, people will light up a prodigious amount of fireworks, including giant firecrackers which resonate like dynamite and could blow your hand off (as happens a dozen times as year to careless kids). Now, we all like fireworks, but sleep is difficult if not impossible at this time of year!

To be fair, some cities, Bogota in particular, have managed to curtail the sale and usage of  illegal fireworks, but the bylaws in Medellin seem to have made no difference. Everybody in the area knows of the costly fires caused by hot air balloons falling into buildings, such as the Exito (the big department store chain) warehouse which burned to the ground a few years ago, and everybody knows of dozens of people seriously injured every year, but a certain segment of this society cannot be deprived of the pleasure of blowing things up for Jesus and the Virgin!

Also during this time of the year, every neighbor seems to be competing to make the noisiest party. Our gated community’s security gave up long ago trying to get anybody to respect the curfew, so on they go, sound systems blaring all night long in their parking area or outdoor patio, causing windows to rattle in our unit. The worst part is that they love to sing along with their favorite songs, invariably way off key! My wife is at wit’s end from lack of proper rest. I suggested she go clanging pots and pans during the day when the perpetrators slumber, but I suspect that would not bother them in the least! The freezing temperatures I am currently enduring in Canada do not seem so bad in comparison!

December is also the month for the “alumbrados” across the valley. These are the most spectacular arrangements of millions of Christmas lights you will see anywhere, organized by the municipalities themselves. I cannot deny that this in itself is worth a visit to Medellin, but if you do go, forget about sleeping unless you are normally a party zombie anyway!